Industry expansion could bring 25 jobs

Alleghany County may be on the receiving end of a $250,000 grant to help an existing business expand into a former textile manufacturing facility on Trojan Avenue in Sparta.

The grant from the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center is slated to help an unnamed existing business expand into the former Sara Lee (also Spring Ford) building in Sparta.

County Manager Don Adams said he could not divulge the details of the proposed expansion at this time.

“We hope this will be good for our community, but we can’t release the name of the company or the other details at this time,” Adams said.

“Hopefully we can release all the details in the next couple of weeks.” Adams said the grant will help pay for renovations only. “The purchase of the building will be up to the prospective buyer,” he noted. He said the renovation funds would help offset costs in getting the building ready for use by the new owners, if all goes as planned.

Adams said the 25 new jobs would be manufacturing jobs. “That’s really all I can say right now,” Adams said.

The building in question had been purchased by Piedmont Medical in the past, but plans to use the building to recondition medical equipment never materialized.

Statewide, the Rural Center announced $14.6 million in grants slated to grow 75 new and expanding businesses around the state and put more than 4,500 North Carolinians to work. The award marks the first round of investment as part of a $20 million state-funded initiative to stimulate business growth, create jobs for North Carolina workers and shore up the state’s faltering economy, a news release from the rural center said.

State lawmakers established the N.C. Economic Infrastructure Fund in July 2004 as part of a comprehensive effort to help rural and low-wealth communities struggling with job losses by boosting the infrastructure needed to attract and sustain business development. Lawmakers directed the Rural Center to administer the fund through four programs that will improve water and sewer facilities, add new business and technology telecenters, support the reuse and renovation of vacant buildings in small towns, and invest in major research.

Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back